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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26948437">Into The Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfEndlessWonder/pseuds/OfEndlessWonder'>OfEndlessWonder</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - No Powers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, I Got So Carried Away, the reporter au i didn't realise i'd been missing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:47:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,762</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26948437</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfEndlessWonder/pseuds/OfEndlessWonder</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Supercat week, day one: enemies to lovers. An imagining of what might have happened if Cat and Kara were reporters at the Daily Planet at the same time. Spoiler alert: they do not get along.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kara Danvers/Cat Grant</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>236</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Into The Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a spring in Kara’s step as she glanced around the Daily Planet’s bullpen, her eyes wide with glee, taking in the people bustling around, the sound of frantic typing and hushed phonecalls reaching her ears.</p>
<p>She’d spent the morning in HR, doing her orientation, but now she was being released into the wild, left to her own devices to set up her desk and settle in, to take her first tentative steps into her dream career.</p>
<p>Behind her, the elevator doors pinged open, and someone bumped into her a moment later, papers scattering, and Kara was quick to bend down to help pick them up, an apology on her lips even though she hadn’t technically done anything wrong.</p>
<p>“What a stupid place to stand.” The voice was annoyed, and Kara turned her head and came face-to-face with a pair of devastating green eyes. “Now these are all out of order.” The woman snatched the pages that Kara had gathered from her hands, neatening them into a pile as she straightened up. “Are you mute?”</p>
<p>“I… no. And okay, maybe I shouldn’t be standing here, but shouldn’t you have been looking where you were going?”</p>
<p>From somewhere behind her, Kara heard a sharp intake of breath, and as she watched the woman’s eyes narrow, Kara realised too late that she’d just made a terrible, terrible mistake.</p>
<p>“<em>Excuse </em>me?” Anger made her voice shake, spark of fury in those green eyes, and Kara swallowed, her throat feeling tight, barely refraining from taking a precautionary step back in-case the woman chose to strike.</p>
<p>“I just… I just meant that maybe we’re both equally at fault, and that…” She trailed off, snapping her jaw shut, the woman’s eyes narrowing further with each and every word that came from her mouth, and this really wasn’t the start to her first day that she’d wanted.</p>
<p>“You work here?” Eyes flickered down to the lanyard around Kara’s neck, the swipe badge that gave her access to this floor hanging from the end of it.</p>
<p>“Um, as of today, yes.” Trying to salvage the situation, Kara offered the woman her hand. “I’m Kara. Danvers. It’s nice to meet you.”</p>
<p>The woman stared at Kara’s hand like she had leprosy, before she hummed at the back of her throat. “We’ll see how long you last, Kiera.”</p>
<p>With that, she turned and stalked away, leaving Kara staring after her, dumbfounded, surrounded by the floral scent of her perfume.</p>
<p>“Don’t take it personally,” a nearby voice said, and Kara turned to find a brunette using the copier, looking at her with a friendly smile. “She’s like that with everyone. I’m Lois.” She extended a hand towards Kara, and when she took it, the grip was firm. “I promise not everyone who works here is an asshole.”</p>
<p>Kara’s eyes widened, glancing around to check that the woman was out of earshot, but she was settling herself behind a desk on the other side of the bullpen.</p>
<p>“Kara,” she introduced herself, releasing Lois’ hand and following her further into the bullpen, happy to realise that their desks were beside one another, and that at least someone here was welcoming. “Um, who was that?”</p>
<p>“That was Cat Grant,” Lois said, spinning her chair around so that she could face Kara. “She thinks she rules the place.”</p>
<p>It was a name that Kara was familiar with, having done her research before applying for a job here. Cat was a junior reporter, up and coming in her field, and Kara had read enough of her articles to know that she was a real talent.</p>
<p>She thought that Cat was probably someone who she could learn a lot from – if only her attitude wasn’t so terrible.</p>
<p>“You’ll get used to her, after a while,” Lois continued. “Just don’t let it get to you. And don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself.”</p>
<p>“I’m not very good at that,” Kara admitted, ducking her head, gaze focusing on her shoes, because conflict had been something she’d always been taught to avoid.</p>
<p>“Well, you might want to start if you want to make it here.” Lois’ voice wasn’t unkind, but the words did little to settle the knot in her stomach, the worry that she didn’t belong here, that she’d made the wrong decision, that she wasn’t going to last the week.</p>
<p>But they had hired her for a reason, Kara mused, as she settled herself behind her new desk and booted up her laptop. Across the bullpen, she glanced towards Cat. Her lips were pursed as she focused on her screen, a pair of glasses perched on her nose and her fingers tapping a rhythm against the side of the mouse under her palm.</p>
<p>Kara didn’t think that someone so beautiful could have such an acerbic tongue, but then, she supposed that if her personality matched her looks, it would hardly be fair.</p>
<p>As if she could sense Kara’s gaze, Cat’s head turned, their eyes locking from across the room. She watched green eyes narrow, her lips turning into a scowl, and Kara was quick to blink and look away, cheeks tinging pink at being caught staring – it certainly wasn’t going to endear her to Cat, and she could feel the weight of her glower even as she stared resolutely at her own laptop, never daring to let her eyes stray across the room again.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>Much as Lois continued to reassure Kara that Cat carried a burning hatred for all of her co-workers, she sure seemed to like to take out the bulk of her anger on Kara.</p>
<p>She had no idea what she’d done to incite such fury, but Cat appeared to despise her, barely acknowledging her existence, most days, and when she did, she never had anything nice to say.</p>
<p>In an attempt to try to win her over, Kara decided to bring her a coffee one day, after noticing that Cat never entered the office in the morning without one, and only realised that she’d made a grave mistake when Cat’s lip curled, her gaze disdainful as she glanced down at the Styrofoam cup Kara offered towards her.</p>
<p>“What is that?”</p>
<p>“It… it’s a coffee.” Kara’s voice was small, all the confidence that she’d affected in order to approach Cat quailing under the heavy weight of those eyes. “A latte. From that little place down the street?”</p>
<p>“Have you been following me?” Cat asked, her gaze suspicious, and oh, god, this really <em>was </em>a terrible idea, and Kara wished that she could rewind time, or that perhaps the ground would swallow her up, anything to get herself out of this seemingly doomed situation she’d found herself in.</p>
<p>“What?” Kara’s voice increased in pitch at the accusation. “I… no, of course not. I mean, I’ve seen you in there a couple of times, sure, but that’s because it’s so close. I’ve seen other people in there, too, not just you. Like Lois, and Brandon, and - ”</p>
<p>“Do you <em>always </em>talk this much?” Cat asked, blinking at Kara like she was studying her.</p>
<p>“I… no. Just when I’m - ” She cut herself off before she could finish with ‘nervous’, remembering Lois telling her to stand her ground, and knowing Cat would pounce on any weakness that Kara offered to her.</p>
<p>“When you’re…?” Cat prompted, eyes shrewd, and Kara struggled to hold her gaze, not wanting to be the one to blink first.</p>
<p>She did, of course, Cat’s stare unwavering, and the smirk that graced her lips was absolutely infuriating.</p>
<p>Kara considered herself to be relatively level-headed, slow to anger and rarely speaking out of turn, but there was just something about Cat that made all of that fly out the window.</p>
<p>“Never mind. I’ll just keep this for myself if you don’t want it.” She turned and walked to her desk before Cat had the chance to reply, slamming the coffee down so hard on her desk that it nearly sloshed over the lid. She didn’t even <em>like </em>lattes – she preferred the sugary, flavoured coffees that masked the bitter taste – but she was going to drink the whole thing out of spite.</p>
<p>“You okay?” Lois asked, raising her eyebrows when she caught a glimpse of the sour look on Kara’s face.</p>
<p>“I just don’t understand why she’s such a <em>bitch</em>.”</p>
<p>Lois’ brows twitched higher. “She’s really getting to you, huh? You <em>do </em>know that it’s okay if not everyone likes you, right?”</p>
<p>“But I haven’t done anything to make her hate me.” Kara tried not to pout, because she wasn’t <em>used </em>to people hating her, and even though Cat tended to stay away from her (and from everyone else in the bullpen, if she could help it), she still didn’t like it.</p>
<p>“Yeah, you did, you dared to stand in her way,” Lois said, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “Seriously, though, Kara, let it go.”</p>
<p>Sighing, Kara tried to do just that, turning to her computer screen and the half-written article that was waiting for her there. It was a puff piece, would be squeezed at the bottom of a page somewhere in the middle of the paper, but she didn’t care because it was going to be her first byline.</p>
<p>She was struggling to write the ending, though, and when she glanced away to try and find some inspiration, she found Cat watching her from across the room.</p>
<p>Kara expected Cat to look away when their eyes met, but she didn’t, her gaze unwavering, and Kara remembered the latte that was sitting on the edge of her desk. Steam was still rising from the lip of the lid, and, despite her distaste for the stuff, Kara reached for the cup, holding Cat’s gaze as she raised to her mouth and took a sip.</p>
<p>The urge to grimace was strong, but she didn’t allow her face to change, damn near drank the whole thing in one long gulp out of sheer stubbornness, Cat’s eyes still resting on her, lip curling in distaste, and Kara wondered who would be the first one to blink and look away.</p>
<p>It was Cat, in the end, after Kara had discarded the empty cup into the trash by her feet without looking away, and Kara tried not to smirk, petty enough to think of it as a victory in the battle she and Cat were waging against one another.</p>
<p>Kara’s attention returned back to her article – but not before she caught Lois’ eye. She was watching her and shaking her head, and Kara offered her a sheepish smile because okay, none of that was exactly ‘letting it go’.</p>
<p>But it made her feel better, and that was all that really mattered.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>Cat hated editorial meetings.</p>
<p>She knew they were necessary, but that didn’t make hearing some of the truly terrible pitches that her fellow reporters made any easier to bear.</p>
<p>Usually, she tried to tune them all out, make it appear that she was listening with rapt attention when in reality, her mind was miles away, already working on her next article, and thinking of the one she was going to write after that, a constant stream of words and ideas that she could never fully quiet.</p>
<p>“Cat.”</p>
<p>At the sound of her name, she tuned back in to find Perry White gazing at her expectantly, and she hoped she hadn’t missed a question.</p>
<p>“Your idea for the Walker article is wonderful, I want you to write it.”</p>
<p><em>Good</em>, she thought, tapping her pen against the page of her notebook, scribbled with writing in her own shorthand, <em>because I’ve already started writing it. </em></p>
<p>“I was thinking that it would be good for you to bring Kara in on it.”</p>
<p>“<em>What</em>?!” Cat asked, as a similar exclamation erupted from across the table – she’d been trying not to look that way, because the garish yellow sweater that Kara was wearing was <em>honestly </em>offensive to her eyes, but now she couldn’t help but glance towards the girl that somehow managed to step on every single one of her nerves at once.</p>
<p>Cat didn’t know exactly <em>why</em>, but she did, and the thought of having to work in close quarters with her was absolutely unacceptable – and she had absolutely no problem telling Perry just that.</p>
<p>“I thought the newbie was Lois’ responsibility,” Cat said, injecting as much haughtiness into her voice as she could possibly manage, knowing that there was a part of Perry that, despite being her boss, was terrified of her. “And you know I work better alone.”</p>
<p>“I think this will be good for both of you,” Perry replied, and Cat didn’t even try to hide her scoff. “Kara gets to work with someone else experienced, and you - ”</p>
<p>“Get to be annoyed for the next week?” Cat’s voice was laced with venom, enough for several other people around the meeting room table to shift uncomfortably in their seats. It had been a while since she and Perry had argued, but apparently not long enough for the memory of it to fade.</p>
<p>“You get a chance to share what you know,” Perry continued, like Cat had never spoken at all. “You want to run your own media empire one day, don’t you?” He shot her a pointed look, and Cat tried not to grind her teeth. “How do you expect to be able to do that by working alone? We all have to collaborate at one point or another.” He started to gather up his things, clearly ready for this meeting to be over, and Cat couldn’t even feel gratified by the slight tremble of fear in his fingers, she was so incensed. “That’ll be all. I look forward to seeing what the two of you come up with.”</p>
<p>With that, he rose to his feet and skittered away to hide in his office down the hall, Cat staring daggers at his back the entire time. Around her, the others started to follow, but Cat didn’t move, needing a moment to gather her thoughts before she threw her latte at the nearest person’s head.</p>
<p>And of <em>course </em>that person had to be Kara fucking Danvers.</p>
<p>She was still sitting opposite her, even as everyone else filtered out of the room. She didn’t flinch when Cat directed the full force of her glare on her, just tilted up her jaw and glared right back, and Cat nearly growled under her breath.</p>
<p>She didn’t like being challenged.</p>
<p>In fact, she didn’t like a thing about her. She was always so damn bright and bubbly, and how was someone so happy all the time? All Cat heard, day in, day out, was her and Lois talking and laughing together, the sound grating and disruptive, even when Cat stuffed her headphones into her ears and turned up the volume.</p>
<p>And don’t even get her <em>started </em>on the wardrobe. She dressed like a pre-schooler, so that it was impossible for Cat’s eyes not to be drawn to her, no matter where in the bullpen she might be.</p>
<p>She was clumsy, always knocking into things or falling over, and everyone was always quick to rush to her aid like she was some helpless, meek little thing. She’d had the rest of the floor wrapped around her finger within a week, simply had to smile and they’d all be falling over themselves to help her out.</p>
<p>She brought cakes and biscuits and coffees and <em>that </em>made Cat suspicious too, because surely no-one could be that nice without wanting to get something out of it, but the more time she spent around the girl, Cat was starting to think that she just <em>was </em>like that, kind and selfless.</p>
<p>Kara was practically a walking girl scout, and Cat <em>despised </em>her.</p>
<p>She was pretty sure she’d made Kara feel the same way about her – not that Cat ever had to expend much effort to fall out of favour with other people. She was cold and abrasive, so focused on her career that she didn’t make time for friendships, hated having to rely on other people so she never asked for help, and she never offered it because if she could do it alone, then so could everyone else.</p>
<p>“Are you going to keep glaring at me, or are we going to have a discussion about how we should move forward?” Kara was the one to break the deadlock, a look of annoyance on her face and a bite to her words that Cat had never heard before.</p>
<p>Cat seemed to be the only one able to incite it, and whereas Cat would usually admire someone who could grow a backbone around her (before she eviscerated them to ensure it never happened again, anyway), seeing it from Kara only made her even more tightly wound.</p>
<p>(It was irrational, she knew it was – hell, not even Lois Lane had managed to get under her skin like this, and the girl could do very little about the personality that Cat clashed with so violently, but she just couldn’t <em>help </em>it).</p>
<p>“Look,” Kara continued, when Cat stayed silent, her sigh so heavy that Cat felt the force of her breath from across the table, “I get it, neither of us is happy about having to work together, but that doesn’t mean we have to make it difficult. What do you want me to do?”</p>
<p>“Nothing yet,” Cat decided, because it had been so long since she’d had to work with someone else that she needed a moment to figure out how the hell she was going to manage it. “But I’ll let you know.”</p>
<p>With that, she pushed herself away from the table and stalked back to her desk, still seething with anger. She stabbed at her keyboard viciously as she responded to an email, trying to ignore the sound of hushed whispers she could hear all around her.</p>
<p>It was going to be a long week, and it was all Kara’s fault.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>When Cat had dropped a stack of research onto Kara’s desk and informed her that she expected her to stay late that night (despite overhearing that she had plans with most of their co-workers to hit the bar down the street for happy hour as soon as the clock hit five p.m.), she’d half-expected, from the look Kara had shot her, for the other woman to tell her to fuck off.</p>
<p>But she hadn’t, had forced a smile and reached for the first of the papers, and she was still sitting at her desk two hours after everyone else had left.</p>
<p>They worked in silence, the both of them sitting at their own desks on opposite sides of the bullpen, the only sound filtering through the room that of typing or the occasional scratch of pen against paper.</p>
<p>Cat was listening to showtunes on her computer – something that she’d vehemently deny if anyone ever asked, because she had a reputation to uphold – and she had no idea what Kara was listening to, but whatever it was, her head bobbed along to the rhythm of the music.</p>
<p>Her eyes burned with the strain of staring at the screen after a long week, but she refused to be the one to suggest they call it a night. When she heard the sound of Kara’s pen clattering onto her desk and turned to see her stretching her arms over her head, Cat wondered if she’d won their unmentioned battle of wills.</p>
<p>“I’m hungry,” Kara announced, and Cat only knew that Kara was addressing her because she was the only one there. “I’m going to go and pick something up.” So, it appeared she wasn’t throwing in the towel, after all. “Do you want anything?”</p>
<p>“No, thank you.”</p>
<p>“You should eat.” Kara was frowning at her, when Cat glanced her way, and Cat wondered what she could have possibly done to make Kara give a shit whether she ate or not. “You should look after yourself or you’ll burn out.”</p>
<p>“Well, I’ve managed just fine without your input so far,” Cat said, that familiar bite in her voice that only seemed to come out whenever she was talking to Kara, “but I’ll keep that in mind.”</p>
<p>“I don’t even know why I bother,” Kara muttered, face cast in anger as she shrugged into the jacket that she’d draped over the back of her chair earlier that morning, with such violence that Cat thought it was a miracle she didn’t rip the thing clean in two.</p>
<p>Not that that would be any kind of travesty.</p>
<p>It was <em>denim</em>. With patches sewn onto it.</p>
<p>Hideous.</p>
<p>She stormed out without another word, and Cat blinked after her, wondering why it didn’t bring her quite the same sense of satisfaction that it used to.</p>
<p>God, she <em>must </em>be tired.</p>
<p>Rubbing her hands against her temples, trying to ward off her impending headache, Cat tried to focus on the words on the screen in-front of her. She’d begrudgingly asked Kara to draft a few paragraphs and, much to her distaste, she didn’t hate what she’d written.</p>
<p>The girl had talent – not that Cat would ever say that to her face – and she supposed that at least their article wouldn’t be ruined by her incompetence.</p>
<p>Kara returned half an hour later, looking happier than she had when she’d left, a plastic bag with the name of a local Chinese takeaway emblazoned on the size hooked over her arm. When she approached Cat’s desk and set a small container on the corner of it, Cat looked at her, suspicion on her face.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to eat it,” Kara said, already on her way back to the safety of her own desk. “But otherwise it’s going to go to waste.” She didn’t look at Cat as she tucked into her own food, using chopsticks with precision to lift a potsticker to her mouth and sighing in content when she swallowed.</p>
<p>The smell of the food was too enticing for Cat to ignore, her stomach rumbling, and even though it felt a little like defeat, Cat reached for the innocuous cardboard container. Inside was sweet and sour chicken, Cat’s favourite Chinese food, and she didn’t know whether to be flattered or annoyed that Kara had paid such close attention to her lunchtime choices.</p>
<p>“Why are you so nice?” Cat couldn’t help but ask, once she was halfway through her food, frowning at the side of Kara’s head and trying to figure her out. Cat had been nothing but terrible to her for <em>weeks</em>, and yet here she was, extending yet another kindness, even though Cat had thrown every other one back in her face.</p>
<p>“I don’t know.” Kara’s shoulders lifted in a shrug, and she looked almost relaxed, lounging back in her chair, hands resting on her full stomach. “It’s just the way I am.”</p>
<p>“It’s <em>weird</em>,” Cat said, dropping her empty container into the trash, and Kara snorted.</p>
<p>“Maybe you should try it some time.” There was no poison in her voice, and Cat thought that this was the longest that they’d managed to have a conversation without being at one another’s throats.</p>
<p>“It’s not in my DNA.” How could it be, with a mother that despised her? That had told her over and over again that she was worthless, a disappointment, that she’d never amount to anything, never make her proud. How could she be kind to others, let them in, if even her own mother didn’t want to be around her?</p>
<p>Irritated by her spiralling thoughts, Cat pushed them away and returned to her work with fervour.</p>
<p>If Kara noticed an odd look on her face, or the particularly vicious way she stabbed at the keys whilst she typed, she wisely chose not to say anything.</p>
<p>The two of them worked in companionable silence for a while longer until Kara called it quits with a yawn, and Cat was impressed that she’d managed to last this long, especially knowing that her friends were out having fun just a few metres down the street.</p>
<p>She bid Cat goodbye with the promise she’d send her things over the weekend, and Cat barely spared her a glance, too absorbed in what she was doing. She knew she put more hours in than everyone else, but all she had to go home to was an empty apartment and the relentless drive to succeed.</p>
<p>Sure, her peers might think that she didn’t have much of a life, but what she <em>did </em>have, Cat was happy with.</p>
<p>She didn’t need anything, or any<em>one</em>, else to feel fulfilled.</p>
<p>Even if the office did feel unusually empty without Kara’s larger than life presence invading her senses.</p>
<p>Not that Cat <em>missed </em>her, or anything.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>“What is this?” Kara slammed the paper down on Cat’s desk so hard that it shook, but it didn’t shake as much as her hands when she clenched them at her sides.</p>
<p>“It’s our article,” Cat drawled, eyes flicking down to read the headline.</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s right. <em>Our </em>article.” Kara stabbed at the byline, at the singular name that sat there, with her index finger.</p>
<p>“You really didn’t think you were going to get your name on the front page so soon, did you?” Cat looked completely unaffected by Kara’s rage, barely glancing at her as she climbed to her feet, and Kara stared after her in astonishment when she turned and walked away, heading for the supply closet at the back of the bullpen.</p>
<p>“Oh, no, you don’t,” Kara muttered, following after her with fury in her every step, bursting into the room behind her and slamming the door closed, because maybe the rest of the bullpen didn’t need to hear this argument.</p>
<p>She’d just… she’d really thought that they’d made progress after the other night, that they were finally <em>getting </em>somewhere, and she’d been excited to see the article in print after busting her ass to make sure that Cat couldn’t say a thing about her not pulling her weight.</p>
<p>“What the <em>hell </em>are you doing?” Cat asked, as haughty as ever, drawing herself up to her full height, gaze steely as it rested on Kara’s face. “What do you want, Kara? A medal? For me to recall all the copies of the Daily Planet that had sold this morning so we can reprint it with your name? Let me just get out my phone and sort that for you - ” She reached into her pocket to pull it out, and Kara just <em>barely </em>refrained from smacking the damn thing from her hand.</p>
<p>“Some acknowledgement would be nice! I worked my ass off, and I thought that we were… I thought we’d gotten past this.” Kara gestured vaguely between the two of them, and Cat rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>“What, you thought that just because we shared a few hours in the office that that meant we were suddenly best friends? Get a fucking grip, Kara. You are <em>the </em>most insufferable - ”</p>
<p>Kara didn’t know who the slap surprised more – her or Cat.</p>
<p>Certainly, she stared at her hand like it was an alien thing, because surely it didn’t belong to her, surely the reddening mark on Cat’s cheek wasn’t from <em>her </em>hand, and she’d always had a problem with her temper but she’d never lost control like this, and oh, god, she was going to get fired, and she’d never get hired in this field again, she’d never become a high profile journalist, and –</p>
<p>She yelped as Cat recovered from her shock, fisting a hand in Kara’s shirt and yanking her close, so close that she could see the fury in Cat’s eyes, feel the heat of her enraged breaths on her lips, and she stopped breathing because Cat looked like she wanted to kill her, and Kara wondered if she was about to be beaten to death by the stapler that Cat held in her other hand.</p>
<p>“Don’t you <em>ever</em>,” Cat started, so angry that she was shaking with the force of it, her voice low and dangerous, “lay a hand on me again unless you want to lose it.”</p>
<p>“I-I’m sorry.” Kara stuttered when she was nervous, and she’d never been more terrified than she was in that moment. “I don’t know why I did that. I-I’ve never done anything like that before. I was just… I was so <em>mad </em>at you.”</p>
<p>“So you wanted to make me mad back?” Cat asked, and she still had tight hold of Kara’s shirt, and Kara wondered if she could feel the frantic beat of her heart, tattooing against her ribs.</p>
<p>“I… I guess?”</p>
<p>Cat was still so close, close enough for Kara to smell her perfume, and she could see flecks of gold in her green eyes. It wasn’t the first time she’d thought that Cat was beautiful, but it was impossible <em>not </em>to think it now, with Cat right in her face, but that was <em>so </em>not what she needed to be thinking about now.</p>
<p>“I should hit you back,” Cat said, her voice still low, and when she shoved Kara back against the door she swallowed, turning her cheek and bracing herself for a blow that never came. “It took me two years to get my first front page, and it wasn’t handed to me. I worked for it, and so will you. Don’t throw away your chance by doing something stupid.”</p>
<p>With that, Cat released her hold on Kara and stepped away, and Kara was quick to bolt out of the store room. She made a beeline for the bathroom, splashing cold water onto her face with trembling hands.</p>
<p>When she returned to the bullpen, she half-expected Cat to be regaling everyone with the tale of Kara attacking her, but she was just sitting at her desk, focused only on her work. Kara was on edge for the rest of the day, wondering if Perry was going to approach her and tell her that she needed to collect her things and never come back, but no-one had said a word to her by the time the clock hit five.</p>
<p>She glanced towards Cat as she was packing up her things, wondering if she was biding her time, was going to hold the moment over her head until she could completely devastate her.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>Cat pursed her lips as she watched Kara and Lois laughing at something across the room.</p>
<p>The two of them had dutifully avoided one another for the past few weeks, ever since their supply closet confrontation, and Cat had been quite content to pretend that the other woman didn’t exist.</p>
<p>She knew she could have ruined Kara if she’d gone to Perry, and she still wasn’t quite sure why she hadn’t. Absentmindedly, she reached a hand to her cheek, and sometimes she swore she could still feel the imprint of Kara’s hand against her skin, like her anger had left a mark that only Cat could see and feel.</p>
<p>If it had been anyone else, Cat would have destroyed them, but Kara… god, maybe she was going soft, but she just couldn’t wreck someone so promising. And she knew that Kara would never have struck her had Cat not been so adept at winding her up, so.</p>
<p>She’d probably been asking for it.</p>
<p>Still, that didn’t mean that she didn’t like seeing the girl squirm, like she always did on the rare occasions that their eyes met.</p>
<p>Cat had taken to tapping her cheek whenever it happened, feeling a special kind of vindication when Kara flushed scarlet and turned away.</p>
<p>She sighed as she tore her gaze away from her fellow reporters having fun, making her way towards the bar and signalling for another glass of champagne. The night of the Daily Planet’s Christmas party was Cat’s least favourite of the year, but it was expected that everyone attended, and the networking opportunity, with some of the higher ups always being present, was too good for her to ignore.</p>
<p>But she’d spent two hours kissing ass and she was <em>exhausted</em>, halfway to drunk but not quite enough to enjoy herself, and she glanced at her watch, wondering when would be an acceptable time to leave.</p>
<p>She expected that her colleagues would be going soon, leaving behind the hall for the karaoke bar down the street, to have fun without the watchful eyes of their superiors following their every move.</p>
<p>Cat hadn’t been invited, of course. She couldn’t even remember the last time she <em>had </em>been, and apparently she was drunk enough for that to bother her. Annoyed at herself, she threw back the last of her champagne in one gulp and retired to the bathroom, wondering if it would be unreasonable to hide out there for a while until she could make her excuses and leave.</p>
<p>She was standing with her hands curled around the edge of the porcelain sink, examining the flaws in her make-up, when the door clattered open behind her. In the mirror, she watched Kara stumble inside, the smile on her face dropping when she saw Cat standing there.</p>
<p><em>Of course it’s you</em>, Cat thought, but she didn’t dare say the words aloud.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” Kara asked, frowning at Cat in the mirror’s reflection, and Cat turned, folding her arms protectively across her chest and leaning back against the sink.</p>
<p>“Why do you even <em>care</em>?” Cat asked, because she was far from sober, didn’t quite have her guard back in place, and she was genuinely curious because she certainly didn’t deserve it.</p>
<p>“I… I don’t know.” Kara looked drunk, too, her cheeks flushed and a slight slur to her words, and at least that meant that she might not remember this in the morning. She let the door clatter shut behind her and ventured further into the bathroom, further towards Cat. “Just can’t help it, I guess.”</p>
<p>“I don’t deserve it. The only thing I deserve is another slap.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure that could be arranged,” Kara joked, and Cat felt the barest hint of a smile. “You do look like you could use a hug, though.”</p>
<p>“I don’t remember the last time I had one of those,” Cat mused aloud, because she honestly <em>didn’t</em>, and Kara’s mouth opened in horror.</p>
<p>“What? But what about your family?”</p>
<p>Cat’s scoff was so vicious that Kara flinched. “It’s just my mother, and I don’t think she ever hugged me once.”</p>
<p>“That’s terrible.”</p>
<p>Cat shrugged, because she’d survived, and if nothing else, her mother had at least given her a steel backbone, the ability for insults to slide off of her back like water, and an insatiable drive for success, just so that she could prove her wrong.</p>
<p>“Although it does explain a lot,” Kara continued, looking thoughtful and Cat’s eyes narrowed, not liking the sound of that at all. “Like why you’re so prickly.”</p>
<p>“I am not <em>prickly</em>,” Cat said, merely because she was offended, knowing full well it was a lie, and Kara gazed at her in wide-eyed disbelief.</p>
<p>“You <em>so </em>are. Do you just like arguing with me?”</p>
<p>“No, you’re just so <em>annoying </em>that I can’t help it.”</p>
<p>But Kara was smiling, like she didn’t believe her, and that only served to infuriate Cat even further. “But you argue with me more than anyone else in the office. And if you say that I’m more annoying than Brandon, then I’m going to be <em>really </em>offended.”</p>
<p>“Did you just speak ill of someone?” Cat asked, clutching a hand to her chest. “You’ve changed.”</p>
<p>“Well, he <em>is </em>annoying. He won’t leave me alone.” Kara’s nose wrinkled, and Cat had seen him, swarming all over her like a dog in heat, reeking of desperation.</p>
<p>“Just tell him to fuck off,” Cat suggested, which was what she had done when he’d tried something similar with her. “Or better yet, let <em>me </em>tell him to fuck off. He’s scared of me.”</p>
<p>“Everyone is scared of you.”</p>
<p>“Are you?” Cat asked, hoping that the answer was yes.</p>
<p>Kara tilted her head, considering, and Cat allowed herself a moment to study her. She could see why Brandon was all over her – though she tried hard to hide it, she was beautiful. Especially tonight, with her hair carefully styled, her figure not hidden behind those hideous sweaters and instead flattered by a figure-hugging blue dress, and Cat had to admit that she cleaned up well.</p>
<p>Not that she was supposed to notice things like that.</p>
<p>Not about the woman who drove her insane.</p>
<p>(Though maybe Kara drove her insane <em>because </em>of that).</p>
<p>“No,” Kara answered, eventually, “you don’t scare me.”</p>
<p>“Oh, really?” Cat arched an eyebrow and pushed herself away from the sink, stalking towards Kara like a cat towards its prey, and Kara backed up until her back collided with the bathroom’s tiled wall, Cat pausing with just a few inches between them. “Because you look pretty scared right now.”</p>
<p>“You’re intimidating,” Kara said, and she was close enough for Cat to feel the heat of her body, to smell the alcohol on Kara’s breath – some kind of fruity concoction that Cat wouldn’t be caught dead holding – along with her perfume, sweet and floral and so very <em>Kara </em>that it hurt. “But you’re not scary.” Yet her voice trembled, whether from a lie or from Cat’s close proximity, she’d never know.</p>
<p>“Then I’m just going to have to work a little harder, aren’t I?” Cat’s voice was low, though she’d never let on it was because she was affected by Kara’s presence, by the temptation to reach out and touch her.</p>
<p>“Go right ahead,” Kara breathed, and Cat met her gaze and found pupils blown wide, and she’d never noticed just how <em>blue </em>Kara’s eyes were before, felt like she could drown in them if she allowed it.</p>
<p>It wasn’t the first time that Cat had felt a tension crackling in the air between them. But usually it was tinged with anger, easy to ignore or mistake it for something else, but not now. Now, there was an entirely different kind of fire between them, and Cat was <em>just </em>drunk enough to consider it.</p>
<p>How would it feel, to let out her frustrations through heated kisses, to rake her nails over Kara’s skin, leave a lasting reminder of herself in the form of half-moon crescents on Kara’s hips, press bruises onto that inviting neck that would be near-impossible to cover.</p>
<p>Cat’s breathing grew laboured, and god, it had been so long since she’d taken someone into her bed, since she had let herself be touched, since she’d had another body writhing beneath her tongue, and maybe that was why she was starting to forget herself, losing herself in a sea of blue.</p>
<p>Cat had no idea what she might have done had the door not banged open a moment later (although after, when she was home and alone and lying in bed, staring at her ceiling and remembering how it felt to have Kara pinned in place, she’d imagine it, a hand sliding into her shorts to find slickness beneath).</p>
<p>But it did, and it was like a bucket of cold water had been dunked over her head.</p>
<p>She leapt away from Kara like she’d been burned. Kara’s cheeks were flaming, and Cat’s were warm, too, and she tried not to look guilty as she glanced over her shoulder to see who had disturbed them – if it was Lois, she’d be mortified, but it was a couple of women that she vaguely recognised from finance, who paid them no mind as they stumbled into stalls.  </p>
<p>Clearing her throat, Cat backed up a few more steps. Kara looked like a deer in the headlights, still pressed against the wall, and whatever spell there had been between them it was certainly broken now.</p>
<p>Cat couldn’t believe she’d almost done something so <em>stupid</em>. What had she been thinking? She couldn’t afford to mess things up for herself at the Planet, certainly didn’t need any distractions in the form of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed pain in the ass.</p>
<p>Without another word, Cat turned on her heel and walked away, and though it was hard, not to look back, not to check if Kara was watching her, she managed it.</p>
<p>There was nothing for her to stay for so she headed straight for the exit, and she didn’t draw another breath until the cool night air hit her cheeks, her throat tight and a heavy feeling in her chest, and a relief that, while she would most definitely be spending the holidays working, she wasn’t expected to be present in the office for another week.</p>
<p>Hopefully by then she’d have her head screwed back on straight, and she’d stop wanting things that she could never have.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>Kara dreaded her first day back in the bullpen.</p>
<p>She’d enjoyed the break, enjoyed being able to switch off, not worried about constantly being on, although she had slipped and checked her emails a few times while she’d been at Eliza’s.</p>
<p>Christmas was her favourite holiday, but there had been a shadow over her this year, the ghost of a memory of Cat Grant’s perfume and body heat, and if Kara didn’t know any better, she could’ve <em>sworn </em>that Cat was about to kiss her before they’d been interrupted.</p>
<p>But that was ridiculous, right? Because Cat <em>hated </em>her, and no-one wanted to kiss the person that they hated, did they?</p>
<p>But then she remembered the dark look in Cat’s green eyes, the shallow breaths she’d drawn as she’d met Kara’s gaze, the challenge on her face as she’d backed Kara into the wall, and Kara had <em>wanted </em>it and god, what did that say about <em>her</em>?</p>
<p>Sure, Cat was the bitchiest person that Kara had ever had the misfortune to meet, but that wasn’t all she was. And yes, infuriating, irritating and spiteful were also on that list, but she was also alluring, interesting, intelligent and <em>beautiful</em>, and Kara had no idea how to handle her.</p>
<p>Ignoring her had worked in the past, so that was what she decided to go with on her first day back. Cat was already there, of course (there was a running joke that she slept in the office, because she was always the first one there and the last to leave, so would anyone really know if she did?), but beyond a cursory glance over at her desk (one that wasn’t returned), Kara resolutely kept her eyes focused only on her side of the bullpen for the rest of the day.</p>
<p>For the most part, it was a successful technique. They didn’t need to interact, so they never did, and if anyone noticed that they deliberately averted their eyes from one another in their editorial meetings, no-one said a thing.</p>
<p>Not even Lois, although Kara had noticed her throwing curious glances between her and Cat on more than one occasion. She suspected that Lois was waiting for her to bring it up, but Kara would rather leap out of a window than admit that she suddenly found Cat’s arrogance and biting remarks attractive, so she just ignored those, too.</p>
<p>Cat started to take her anger out on other people in lieu of Kara. Brandon seemed to bear the brunt of her ire, and Kara didn’t know if that was a co-incidence, or she remembered Kara’s complaints about him. Certainly, she had marched over to Kara’s desk, when Brandon had perched on the edge of it, after their bathroom encounter, with fire in her eyes and fury in her steps, and Kara had watched, wide-eyed, as she’d verbally torn him apart for something that she was sure hadn’t even been his fault.</p>
<p>(She told herself that it simply wasn’t possible that Cat was jealous, that it was just a co-incidence that she’d chosen to turn her ire on him instead, and at least it got him to leave her alone, because whenever he approached Kara, Cat levelled him with a fierce glare that sent him quickly scampering away).</p>
<p>“This must be a relief for you,” Lois said one day, wincing as they listened to Cat raise her voice at a poor intern that probably wouldn’t last the week. “That she’s chosen to leave you alone.”</p>
<p>“I guess.” Kara, distracted by Cat stalking back into view, the pencil skirt she was wearing today wrapping around her hips in the most delicious way, didn’t notice Lois’ eyes on her until she turned away, and she felt her cheeks warm, hoping that she hadn’t just been caught checking out Cat’s ass.</p>
<p>But really, who could blame her?</p>
<p>(Not that it was appropriate, and apparently ignoring Cat only made Kara want her more, and she was so, so unbelievably screwed because that was <em>Cat Grant </em>she was thinking of like that, and Kara’s weakness had always been strong women that could ruin her, but she didn’t think she’d ever fall for someone at <em>work</em>, not someone who really <em>could </em>ruin her, thoroughly and completely, and god, she really needed to get Cat off her mind but she just didn’t know <em>how</em>).</p>
<p>“You almost sound disappointed by that,” Lois mused, leaning back in her chair to scrutinise Kara further. “Don’t tell me you miss her yelling at you on the daily.”</p>
<p>Kara laughed, but she knew it sounded forced, knew Lois saw right through her, and she’d always been a terrible liar but she’d never hated it more than she did in that moment. “Of course I don’t.”</p>
<p>“Uh-<em>huh</em>.” Lois pursed her lips, and god only knew what thoughts were going through her mind. “Is there anything you want to tell me, Kara?”</p>
<p>“Nope.” She hadn’t been kidding, about leaping out of a window if it meant she could avoid this conversation, because she knew that Lois <em>hated </em>Cat, and she could only imagine how her best friend here would look at her if she knew the thoughts that swirled around the dark recesses of Kara’s mind.</p>
<p>The ones that imagined what would have happened if Cat’s hands had slipped beneath the hem of her dress in that god<em>damn </em>bathroom that had been the start of all this, how Kara could have allowed Cat to bend her over the sink, watched their reflection in the mirror as she’d slid her fingers inside, hips flush against Kara’s ass, and –</p>
<p>Christ, stop thinking, Kara. <em>Stop thinking</em>.</p>
<p>“You look guilty.” Lois squinted at her, even as Kara desperately tried to avoid her gaze, attention focusing back on her computer screen and the sentence she’d already read ten times.</p>
<p>“No I don’t.”</p>
<p>“Yes, you do.” Lois waited for Kara to refute it again, and when she didn’t she heaved out a disappointed sigh. “You’ll spill it one day.”</p>
<p><em>Maybe on my deathbed</em>, Kara thought, rubbing a hand over her face. She needed to finish her research so she could write the article that was due tomorrow, but her attention kept slipping, her traitorous eyes straying over to the other side of the bullpen.</p>
<p>She’d been so good at avoiding looking over there those first few days, but the more time that passed, the harder she was finding it.</p>
<p>Cat was sitting back at her desk, hands pressed to her temples in a position that was all-too-familiar. Kara didn’t know if it was stress, or if she just suffered from frequent headaches (probably due to the amount of coffee she drank, a cup never far away from her hand), but she seemed to be doing it more and more lately – not that those were things that Kara was supposed to be noticing.</p>
<p>She wasn’t supposed to be noticing her at all, and she desperately tried to remember the vicious way Cat had spoken to her, the poison in her voice, the insults she’d hurled Kara’s way, seemingly without any thought at all, in an attempt to stop thinking about the soft, sad look on her face when she’d admitted that she didn’t know when she’d last been hugged, from the heat as she’d looked up at Kara like she wanted to devour her.</p>
<p>Cat’s hands dropped back down to her desk, and as though she could feel the weight of Kara’s gaze on her, she turned her head. It was the first time their eyes had met since that fateful night at Christmas that had changed so many things, and the thrill it sent through her was unmistakable.</p>
<p>She didn’t know it was possible to feel so much from a single glance, but her heart started to race, breath catching as green met blue. Her skin felt aflame, watching Cat’s eyes tracking down her body, nose wrinkling at Kara’s choice of sweater, gaze so heated that it felt like a tangible touch, and she shivered beneath the scrutiny, wishing it was her hands, instead, and okay, these feelings definitely weren’t going anywhere soon, and Kara had no idea what to do about it.</p>
<p>She wondered if Cat felt the same kind of breathless energy she did, wondered what Cat saw in Kara’s eyes, if she could see how affected Kara was by a simple look.</p>
<p>God, she’d probably fall apart if Cat ever actually touched her.</p>
<p>(Kara really, really, <em>really </em>wished she would).</p>
<p>Cat was the first to blink and look away, and Kara let out a slow breath. Her head felt scrambled, and she had no idea how she was supposed to concentrate on her work with Cat sitting <em>right there</em> but she had to, because they shared a freaking bullpen and neither one of them was going anywhere soon.</p>
<p>It was going to be a long few months, Kara thought, but she hoped that, with time and forced distance, her feelings would start to fade.</p>
<p>And if they didn’t… well.</p>
<p>She was fucked.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>Kara Danvers needed to stop making eyes at her from across the office, or Cat was going to lose her goddamn mind.</p>
<p>Never had someone managed to have such an effect on her, and she <em>hated </em>it. It was a weakness, and Cat Grant did not <em>do </em>weaknesses, and she had a stern word with herself every time she found her thoughts slipping, thinking about Kara, remembering the warmth of her body and the heat in her eyes.</p>
<p>And yet, whenever she felt Kara looking at her from across the bullpen, she felt her pulse quicken, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. Cat had never felt anything like it, and it was infuriating that it was <em>Kara </em>who made her feel like that, Kara with her sunny smile and her sweet as sugar disposition, and how on <em>earth </em>was she attracted to someone that was her complete opposite in every way?</p>
<p>Sometimes, she wondered if maybe she just needed to get it out of her system.</p>
<p>She was pretty sure that Kara would be a willing participant – because why would she keep staring at Cat like he wanted to devour her if not – and all it would take was Cat cornering her in the breakroom when no-one else around and whispering that she knew for a fact there was a row of unused offices a few floors down.</p>
<p>God, it was tempting. She couldn’t <em>think </em>with Kara’s eyes on her, and she’d been staring at her cursor blinking at the same spot on her word document for the past twenty minutes, mind unusually blank.</p>
<p>She had an article to finish by the end of the day, and it was only half-written, and she felt anxiety creeping up because she had never, not once, missed a deadline and there was no way in hell she planned on starting now.</p>
<p>Cat glanced around – although she was careful to keep away from Kara’s desk, because all any shared glances between the two of them seemed to do was light a fire in her stomach that could never be sated until she was home alone and could slide a hand between her thighs – hoping for inspiration to strike.</p>
<p>Brandon’s desk was empty, and Cat wondered if she’d scared him off. He was the one bearing the brunt of all of her frustrations, lately, because Cat couldn’t trust herself around Kara anymore. Even the interns were staying well away from her, left wary from their encounters over the past few weeks.</p>
<p>Sighing, she pushed herself away from her desk and stalked down the hall with her coffee mug hooked around her fingers, hoping that a much-needed boost of caffeine would spur her into action.</p>
<p>She decided that she shouldn’t have bothered when, while she was waiting impatiently for the machine to brew, fingers tapping a staccato rhythm against the counter, she turned to find Kara walking through the door.</p>
<p>Kara skidded to a halt when she saw Cat standing there, freezing as they locked eyes, and Cat breathed out a long sigh because of <em>course</em> it had to be her.</p>
<p>“Morning,” Kara said, even though it was nearly three p.m., ducking her head and making a beeline for the fridge, pulling out a can of the energy drink that Cat saw her guzzling daily – although she supposed, as she glanced at her coffee, willing it to hurry up, that she couldn’t really judge.</p>
<p>Her quest to retrieve a glass brought her into Cat’s orbit, her perfume invading Cat’s senses, and when their arms brushed, bare skin against bare skin, Cat sucked in a sharp breath and quickly leant away.</p>
<p>“Sorry.” Kara’s cheeks were flushed a delightful shade of pink, and Cat wondered what she would look like, flushed and spent, spread out beneath Cat’s hips and cleared her throat.</p>
<p>It was the first time Kara had spoken to her directly since the Christmas party, and Cat didn’t know how to navigate it, didn’t even know if she could trust herself to speak, the temptation to reach out and tug Kara into a breathless kiss so strong that she could barely stand it.</p>
<p>“See you around.” Kara hurried away, glass tucked under her arm, and as Cat watched her go, she thought that it might be the first time she’d been left speechless.</p>
<p>Words – whether spoken or written – had always come easily to her, but now, they were failing her. Cat had thought Kara was trouble from their first meeting, but she’d had no idea just <em>how </em>troublesome she would prove to be.</p>
<p>She needed to do something about it, she decided, pouring her coffee into her mug and returning to her desk with it clasped between her hands, warming her even though she was already alight just from Kara’s close proximity.</p>
<p>She just didn’t know what.</p>
<p>//</p>
<p>Kara was so absorbed by her latest article – nothing massive, but big enough to be on page <em>four</em> rather than tucked away into the middle of the paper where no-one would really read it, so she was working her ass off, because she wasn’t one to waste chances when they were handed to her – that she wasn’t aware of the office emptying around her until pretty much everyone was gone.</p>
<p>Pretty much because, she realised, when she came up for air, that only one other computer screen in the bullpen was still alight, and she knew there was only one person that it could belong to.</p>
<p>Cat sat there, typing away, a frenetic edge to her movements that suggested she was well and truly in the zone. There was a frown of concentration on her face, a pair of glasses that she only ever seemed to don when there were very few people around perched on the end of her nose, and she’d pulled on an oversized hoodie to ward against the chill in the air.</p>
<p>Kara found herself watching Cat, sometimes. Kara thought she was fascinating, would love to get inside her head, to see how that clever mind worked.</p>
<p>“Stop staring.” Cat’s voice carried across the empty bullpen, and Kara started, wondering how Cat even knew she was looking, considering her eyes hadn’t strayed from her screen. “It’s distracting.”</p>
<p>“I…” She was about to deny it, but she knew Cat would see right through her. “Sorry.”</p>
<p>“<em>Why </em>are you staring?” She asked, then, turning away from her computer and levelling Kara with an even stare, and just like always, lately, it knocked the breath from Kara’s lungs.</p>
<p>“Just wondering what you’re working on,” Kara lied, glad that at least her mind could still work with the weight of those eyes on her face.</p>
<p>“You could just ask.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t know we did that.” Kara started to relax, a little, leaning back in her chair and resisting the temptation to kick up her feet onto the edge of her desk.</p>
<p>“It’s better than <em>staring</em>.” Cat’s voice was injected with the haughtiness that Kara had so missed, and she looked relaxed, too, pushing her glasses up to her forehead. There were still imprints on her nose, and Kara watched as she rubbed them away. “Which is rude, by the way.”</p>
<p>“So is ignoring people,” Kara fired back, and knew she’d made a mistake when she saw Cat’s eyebrow arch towards her hairline.</p>
<p>“I think you’ll find that <em>you </em>were the one that started that.”</p>
<p>And goddammit, she was right, but she didn’t need to say it. “You almost sound offended.”</p>
<p>“Don’t be stupid,” Cat scoffed. “It’s actually a relief not to hear your voice daily.” But the words lacked their usual bite, so Kara paid her no mind.</p>
<p>“I’m going to go and get some food,” she decided, her stomach rumbling and reminding her that it had been a while since she’d last eaten. “Do you want me to pick you something up?”</p>
<p>“Okay. As long as it’s not poisoned.”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t last time, was it?” Kara pointed out, and Cat hummed in agreement. “Do you want the same thing?”</p>
<p>Cat nodded, but wouldn’t let Kara leave until she’d pressed some notes into her hand, insisting that she pay this time, and Kara thought that she wasn’t the kind of person who liked to feel in debt to anyone else, so she accepted.</p>
<p>She hurried to the little Chinese restaurant down the street and back, not wanting to waste a moment of her and Cat’s truce, because she didn’t know when she’d get the chance to spend time with her again, especially with her guard so lowered.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Cat was still working when Kara returned. Unlike last time, Kara dared to sit close to Cat rather than at her own desk, and though she gave Kara a wary look, Cat didn’t comment as she tucked into her sweet and sour chicken.</p>
<p>“So, what time do you actually leave this place?” Kara asked, around a mouthful of noodles.</p>
<p>“Late, usually. It’s not exactly like I have anything waiting for me back home, so.” Cat lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Why shouldn’t I spend it working?”</p>
<p>Kara thought that <em>she </em>had a decent work ethic, until she met Cat Grant. “Do you not do anything for fun? Read, watch TV?”</p>
<p>“Not really.”</p>
<p>Kara felt a little sorry for her, wondered if Cat worked so much because she hated to go home alone. She thought of her in an empty apartment, loneliness sinking into her bones, wondered if she kept people at arm’s length because everyone she’d let close to her had let her down in some way, in the end.</p>
<p>“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Cat said, eyes narrowing at the look on Kara’s face. “I’m perfectly happy with the way things are.”</p>
<p>“Liar.” Kara might not know Cat all that well, but she was good at reading people, and there was very little happiness in Cat’s everyday demeanour.</p>
<p>“Excuse me?” Cat was annoyed, she could tell, but Kara refused to back down, stared right back into her steely glare without even flinching.</p>
<p>“You heard. You might be <em>content </em>with the way things are, but you’re not happy. I think you’re lonely, but you’re too scared to let anyone get close enough to see the real you in-case they don’t like what they see, so you push them away, instead.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t realise you had a degree in psychoanalysis.” Cat slammed her empty food container down on the desk so hard that droplets of sweet and sour sauce flicked onto some of her nearby papers, but she didn’t even seem to notice, her focus squarely on Kara. “Perhaps you’re in the wrong career. Based on what I’ve seen of your writing, maybe you <em>should </em>think of trying something new. I can’t see any front pages in your future.”</p>
<p>That was a low blow, and Cat knew it – which was exactly why she’d said it. Kara knew that, but she still reacted, and how was it, that Cat always knew what to say to get under her skin? It was a skill, and one that, in that moment, Kara was jealous of, because she’d love to strike Cat back just as painfully.</p>
<p>“Why are you such a <em>bitch</em>? Is it because your Mommy never hugged you?”</p>
<p>Okay, maybe she <em>did </em>have the same skill, and as she watched Cat’s eyes flash, Kara wondered if maybe she’d gone too far. She leapt to her feet at the same time Cat did, already taking a half-step back because Cat looked just about ready to lunge at her and honestly, Kara wouldn’t even blame her, already felt shame washing over her.</p>
<p>“I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”</p>
<p>Cat was breathing heavily, looking like she was waging a war inside her head, and Kara was half-convinced that, any minute now, Cat was going to strike her, would finally get her own back for the slap that Kara still regretted.</p>
<p>“Stop apologising. Stop being so fucking <em>nice</em>.” Cat punctuated the final word with an angry shove – she was stronger than Kara expected, and she stumbled back into the desk behind her, catching herself by resting her palms against its smooth surface. “All I’ve done to you for <em>months </em>is be horrible, I’ve done everything I can think of to get you to just fuck off, but you just <em>won’t</em>.” A hand curled into the wool of Kara’s sweater, and she was frozen by the touch, by the heat of Cat’s body, so close once again to her own, by the lost look in her eyes. “You’re still here. <em>Why </em>are you still here?”</p>
<p>Kara could be smart and say that it was because she had an article to finish, but she knew that wasn’t what Cat was really asking. She wanted to know why Kara continued to be kind to her, in spite of everything, why instead of fleeing the office when she realised they were alone together, she had offered to have dinner with her. She wanted to know why Kara didn’t treat her like everyone else did, why she stuck around so stubbornly, why she wasn’t willing to let Cat drive her away.</p>
<p>And the answer? Kara wasn’t even sure she knew.</p>
<p>She just knew that she saw something in Cat, something lost, saw a person terrified of letting her guard down and getting hurt, saw a person so driven to success that she didn’t allow herself a single distraction and god, that must be such a lonely life, and Kara couldn’t even stand the thought of it.</p>
<p>But she couldn’t tell Cat any of that.</p>
<p>It was too risky.</p>
<p>“I… I don’t know.”</p>
<p>“I want you to stop it.”</p>
<p>“You want me to stop being nice to you?” Kara asked, trying not to laugh at the request, and Cat huffed, using her grip on Kara to shove her again, though nowhere near as hard as before. In fact, it was almost playful.</p>
<p>“Yes. It’s annoying.”</p>
<p>“You think <em>everything </em>about me is annoying,” Kara pointed out, and though some of the fire had gone out of Cat’s eyes, she didn’t move away, didn’t release her hold on Kara’s sweater.</p>
<p>“Because it is.”</p>
<p>“What, like you’re all rainbows and sunshine yourself?” Kara asked, disbelief colouring her voice, and she wondered how they could keep going from at each other’s throats to almost joking at the flip of a switch.</p>
<p>“I’m not annoying. Apparently I’m just a <em>bitch</em>.”</p>
<p>“I mean… you kind of are.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“Because I’m not here to make friends. I’m here because it’s a stepping stone to the career that I want, and I don’t need anything to distract me from that.”</p>
<p>“You think I’m distracting?” Kara certainly thought that Cat was, but for Cat to admit the same was true for her would be surprising, to say the least.</p>
<p>Cat didn’t answer at first, glancing up at Kara through her lashes, and Kara always found it so hard to breathe with Cat’s eyes on her. She was utterly captivating, and Kara felt like a fly trapped within her web.</p>
<p>“I think you’re very distracting,” Cat whispered, and she flattened her hand on Kara’s chest, palm pressed against her sternum, fingers brushing the base of her throat, against bare skin and surely, she must be able to feel Kara’s heart pounding far faster than it should, the contact setting her on fire. “And no matter what I do, you’re still there, so what am I supposed to do with you?”</p>
<p>Kara had a few suggestions, although not a single one was PG.</p>
<p>“I don’t know. You tell me.” Kara’s voice was breathy, and Cat must notice, but she was too far gone to care, lost in green, green eyes.</p>
<p>Cat’s fingers twitched, an index finger tracing along the curve of her collarbone, and she had to bite down on her bottom lip, <em>hard</em>, to stop the whimper that threatened to escape.</p>
<p>“I think I’ve finally found a way to shut you up.” Cat’s voice was low, and heat curled in Kara’s stomach, anticipation buzzing through her veins and stealing the breath from her lungs.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah? What’s that?”</p>
<p>The kiss shouldn’t have been unexpected, but it still caught her off-guard. It took her a moment to react, frozen as she was under the pressure of Cat’s mouth against her own, but then Cat nipped at her bottom lip, teeth sharp against soft skin, spurring her into action.</p>
<p>Their kisses were frantic, pouring out months’ worth of frustration, Cat’s lips fierce yet soft, her tongue sliding into Kara’s mouth and flicking against the back of her teeth, and Kara thought about what that tongue could do elsewhere and felt her knees grow weak.</p>
<p>Her hands fell to Cat’s hips, and she spread her legs before pulling her close so that she was trapped against the desk by the warm weight of Cat’s body, and then she shifted to palm Cat’s ass, fingers digging into pliant skin, groaning when she felt Cat’s hips shift against her own.</p>
<p>Kara felt like she was on fire, burning from the inside out, every stroke of Cat’s tongue against her own fanning the flames, filled with an aching desperation for the woman pressed against her, for the one that had driven her mad (though not always with desire), from the very first moment that they’d met.</p>
<p>Kara couldn’t believe this was actually happening, and in the <em>office </em>no less, which probably wasn’t the wisest idea, but then, she’d never been able to make a wise decision when it came to Cat… well, ever, so she supposed that she shouldn’t really be surprised.</p>
<p>“We can’t do this here,” Cat breathed, lips pressed to the underside of Kara’s jaw, unknowingly echoing Kara’s thoughts. “It’s too risky. Although the thought of bending you over Brandon’s desk <em>is </em>very appealing.”</p>
<p>“Jesus Christ.” Kara only realised she’d said the words aloud when she saw Cat’s smirk, and Kara had always thought that Cat was dangerous but she felt like she was only just starting to learn just <em>how </em>dangerous. “Where would you suggest?”</p>
<p>Although she’d quite like a look at the inside of Cat’s apartment, just to see what kind of place she had, what she could learn about her there, the building ache between her thighs didn’t want to wait that long, and there was a part of her, too, that worried that if they paused for too long, Cat would re-think this, and Kara didn’t know if she’d survive not finding out what Cat sounded like, moaning her name.</p>
<p>In lieu of an answer, Cat took her hand and pulled Kara towards the supply closet, and okay, it wasn’t the classiest of places to fuck, but with her heart still racing from heated kisses and cautious touches, Kara certainly wasn’t going to complain.</p>
<p>As soon as they were inside, Cat was pinning her against the door, a thigh between her legs and her mouth descending on her neck, pressing a line of open-mouthed kisses that left her trembling.</p>
<p>“Will you take this damn thing off?” Cat mumbled against her skin, hands tugging at the hem of her sweater. “And preferably leave it here so I never have to see you wearing it again?”</p>
<p>“What’s wrong with my sweater?” Kara asked, when the words made it through the haze of desire that had settled over her the first time their lips had touched sank into her brain.</p>
<p>“Really?” Cat asked, arching an eyebrow, although it lost some of its affect when her cheeks were flushed and her lips were swollen from their kisses. “Kara, it’s hideous.”</p>
<p>“It is <em>not</em>.”</p>
<p>“It is, it looks like something a child would wear. Kara, it has <em>unicorns </em>on it.”</p>
<p>“What’s wrong with unicorns?”</p>
<p>“What’s <em>right </em>with unicorns?”</p>
<p>“We really <em>can </em>argue about anything, can’t we?” Kara asked, huffing out a laugh as she realised how stupid they were both being.</p>
<p>“Yes, I suppose we can.” Cat’s hands fell to Kara’s belt, undoing it with her eyes fixed on Kara’s. “Now, do you want to <em>keep </em>arguing or do you want to take the damn thing off so that I can fuck you senseless?”</p>
<p>//</p>
<p><em>So much for no distractions at work</em>, Cat thought, as she let Kara pull her into an abandoned office three floors down from their own.</p>
<p>But she didn’t have the strength to complain, not when Kara’s lips descended on her neck, hands already reaching for the zipper of Cat’s skirt, the both of them well aware that they didn’t have much time before their mutual absence would be noticed.</p>
<p>The heated glances across the bullpen that sparked the anticipation of what lay ahead were foreplay enough, so that by the time they both managed to sneak away there was often very little preamble.</p>
<p>Already, Cat was soaked, and Kara’s questing fingers had barely even touched her. When they did, sliding beneath her underwear and circling her clit, Cat sighed in contentment, tilting her head back against the wall behind her and winding a hand into Kara’s hair when teeth nipped at her skin – though never hard enough to leave a lasting mark.</p>
<p>There was a part of Cat that had expected Kara to be meek and innocent, but she was quickly learning that she was anything but, with a wicked tongue and a filthy mouth that Cat had little doubt would shock the majority of their co-workers.</p>
<p>She liked that she got to see those parts of her that she kept hidden, and Cat knew that Kara was learning all sorts of things about her in return, but strangely, she didn’t mind.</p>
<p>Kara’s fingers eased inside, her thumb pressing against Cat’s clit, and Cat’s free hand crept inside Kara’s shirt, nails raking over the hard muscle of her abs before palming at one of her breasts, teasing at a nipple until it was a stiff peak, Kara swearing against her skin, hips jolting against Cat’s thigh.</p>
<p>Cat knew that this couldn’t last forever. Already, it had gone on for too long – it had been weeks since that first time, weeks of Kara driving her crazy just by being in the same room and throwing her those <em>looks</em> that screamed she was thinking about fucking Cat, and it was untenable to keep it going because she <em>was </em>distracted, <em>Kara </em>was distracting, and that just wasn’t acceptable.</p>
<p>But god, Kara was too damn good at this, knew just how to curl her fingers to make her fall apart, knew how to get her out of her head, even just for a few minutes, and this was the best form of stress relief that Cat had ever had.</p>
<p>Kara always seemed to know when she was having a bad day (which, really, was almost every day, and okay, it probably wasn’t hard to tell from the way she slammed doors and snapped at other people, but still), and all it took was a raised eyebrow and a glance towards the elevators for Cat to find herself on this floor, with Kara’s hands in her pants and her mouth on her skin.</p>
<p>She came quickly, already worked up as she was, and she’d barely caught her breath before she was pushing Kara backwards onto a nearby desk, yanking her slacks down over her hips and settling her mouth between her spread thighs.</p>
<p>She’d definitely found a way to shut Kara up – although she couldn’t say she hated the soft sound of her gasps when Cat sucked at her clit, or the quiet moan when Cat pointed her tongue and pressed inside of her, hips jerking against her mouth – and she didn’t know how she could ever be expected to stop.</p>
<p>Kara was still infuriating, but oh, she was so much easier to deal with now that Cat knew <em>just </em>how to make her knees quake. Whenever they argued (which was, let’s face it, <em>often</em>), all Cat had to do was imagine Kara spread out before her, how she looked, sweaty and sated, still shaking from Cat’s touch, and it made her feel better almost immediately.</p>
<p>(It helped that every single time, Kara’s eyes went wide and her cheeks flamed pink, because she knew <em>exactly </em>what Cat was thinking; usually, she became lost for words, too, which meant that Cat always, always won, and that was just fine with her).</p>
<p>Kara’s hips arched, a leg hooking over Cat’s shoulder, and Cat scolded herself because this thing they were doing was supposed to <em>stop </em>her thinking, supposed to help her clear her mind, and forced herself back into the moment.</p>
<p>She focused on how it felt, to have Kara writhing beneath her tongue, on the hand that was in her hair, tugging just hard enough for it to hurt, but Cat didn’t mind the pain. She circled Kara’s clit with her tongue, two fingers sliding into wet heat, and it didn’t take long for Kara to gush against her mouth, thighs shaking where they were pressed to Cat’s cheeks.</p>
<p>Cat coaxed her through the aftershocks before straightening up, humming in contentment when Kara drew her into a kiss, tasting herself on Cat’s tongue. Cat pulled away before she got carried away again, because she had one article to write and another to edit, and neither of those were going to get done while she had her tongue down Kara’s throat. </p>
<p>They didn’t talk while they began the task of righting their clothes and fixing their hair. In fact, they didn’t talk about what they were doing at all, but that was probably for the best, because Cat didn’t even know what she’d say if Kara ever asked.</p>
<p>They shared one last kiss before Cat slipped away, pressing the button for the elevator, knowing that Kara would follow her back up in a few minutes. Cat knew they probably weren’t terribly subtle, a few pairs of eyes turning to glance at her when she wandered back into the bullpen, but she also knew that no-one would dare challenge her no matter what they thought – a few well-directed glares soon saw to that.</p>
<p>She made sure not to look up when she heard Kara’s heavy footsteps approaching her own desk, kept her gaze focused on her article, and she may be losing precious time by fucking during working hours, but her productivity was certainly better than it had been for the first few weeks of the year, when all she could think about was Kara in that bathroom, so.</p>
<p>She’d take it.</p>
<p>And she knew that it couldn’t last forever – she was pretty sure that they both knew that – but they had right <em>now</em>, moments snatched together whenever they got the chance, and for Cat, at least, that was enough.</p>
<p>She’d deal with the fallout of it all later, when she had to, while she still had the memories of Kara’s hands on her skin, of her taste on her lips, to keep her warm at night when nothing else would.</p>
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